Parent goals and verbal sideline behavior in organized youth sport.

Abstract

The present study examined the alignment of goals parents construct for their children with parent verbal sideline behavior at the earliest stage of youth sport. Semistructured interviews, parent journals, and in situ observation were employed with 4 parents over the initial 15 months of their children’s organized sport participation. Parent goals were categorized within the multiple goals framework (Caughlin, 2010; O’Keefe & Shepherd, 1987), verbal sideline behaviors were categorized using Holt, Tamminen, Black, Sehn, and Wall’s (2008) framework, and case narratives were constructed to offer an interpretation of the interplay of parent goals and verbal sideline behavior. Parents largely wanted their children to learn about sport and have fun; however, parents also reported changing some of their goals over time based on child outcomes and their evolving perceptions of the youth sport context. Often parent goals did not seem to align with verbal sideline behaviors. Findings highlight the development of parent goals over the earliest stage of their children’s organized youth sport participation, multiple forms of these goals (e.g., personal, conventional, task, ego), and both consistencies and inconsistencies between these goals and verbal sideline behavior.

Cardiovascular and Energy Requirements of Parents Watching Their Child Compete: A Pilot Mixed-Methods Investigation

“…Dorsch and colleagues [11] used a mixed-methods approach with many sources of qualitative data and quantitative observational data. We sought to expand the research base by quantitatively documenting parent cardiovascular and metabolic parameters in and around their son's competition.…”

“…Indeed, in youth sport, the spectators relate to the youth participants -namely parents. Researchers have reported that parents serve a vital role in athlete development [7], a source of youth enjoyment [8][9][10], and express a broad range of verbal reactions during sporting contests [11][12]. Given the importance of parents to the youth sports experience, it is surprising that researchers have not examined the physiological responses and thus demands of spectating their children.…”

“…We can envision this line of research moving from descriptive such as describing parent and even child sleep and stress patterns leading up to competition and the days afterward to randomized interventions for sleep and stress management. We believe that a mix-methods approach should guide future research as it has in the past (e.g., Dorsch et al, 2015).…”

Parent-child communication in sport: Bridging the gap between theory and research

“…Explanatory and descriptive studies, while illuminating several important facets of parent-child interaction in sport, have failed to offer theoretical explanations for their findings (see, Bloom & Drane, 2008;Bowker, Boekhoven, Nolan, Bauhaus, Glover, Powell, & Taylor, 2009;Hennessey & Schwartz 2007;Omli & LaVoi, 2006). Very few researchers have applied a lens informed by family, human development, and interpersonal communication theory (c.f., Dorsch, Smith, Wilson, & McDonough, 2015a;Dorsch, Smith, & McDonough, 2015b;Holt et al, 2008). These frameworks, when taken in light of the significant contributions made by more "traditional" sport psychology theories, have the potential to greatly enhance scholars' understanding of communication among family members surrounding the context of sport (Holt et al, 2008).…”

Developing features of sport parenting expertise: an investigation and intervention

“…In contrast, Holt and colleagues (2008) categorized parent verbal reactions on a continuum from supportive to controlling (praise/encouragement, performance contingent feedback, instruction, striking a balance, negative comments, and derogatory comments) when exploring the verbal reactions of four families in sport (Holt, Tamminen, Black, Sehn, & Wall, 2008). This framework has also recently been applied to the examination of links between parent verbal sideline behaviours and goals for their children's sport participation (Dorsch, Smith, Wilson, & McDonough, 2015). Overall, these studies have reported an assortment of parent sport communications considered both detrimental and supportive to children's development.…”